Hungry Heart Daily Devotional Anthology -mjs

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6-5. "FREE BORN"

"If God be for us, who can be against us"? (Romans 8:31)

Faith in the facts alone gives the rest of reliance.

"Is there an accuser, a judge, or an executioner, still after us? The accuser may go away rebuked by this, that God has justified us; the judge may go away rebuked by this, that the Lord Jesus has died--has already suffered the judgment, and His work has been accepted to the full in heaven itself; the executioner may go away rebuked by this, that all the malice of earth and hell together shall never drag us away from the firm embrace of our God. And if there be now neither accuser to charge, nor judge to condemn, nor executioner to slay, the court is cleared!" -J.G.B.

"It is a blessed thing to be shown our enemies and told with Gideon, that Jehovah has delivered them into our hands (Josh. 8:7). Our old man has been crucified (Romans 6:6), the world 'overcome,' and its prince 'judged' (John 16:33, 11). If we are walking by faith, as risen with the Lord Jesus Christ, Satan, the world, and the flesh are under our feet." -J.N.D.

"Not a hair of the child of God can fall without God's permission. Satan is but the unintentional instrument to accomplish God's will; he can do no more than he is allowed to do. If trials come as a host against us, we know that the Almighty is between us and them. They will but work out for us His own purpose of love."

"What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us" (Romans 8:35, 37)
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6-6. CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE

"If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf" (1 Peter 4:16).
Often the lapidary will polish the jewel with its own dust. Just so our Father makes use of the weak and beggarly element of our nature to produce the mirror-like luster in which His image is finally reflected for all to see. "They shall be Mine. . . in that day when I make up My jewels" (Malachi 3:17).

"Those who know the Lord best are those who have gone the deepest way. Those who go the deep way of trial do so because God puts the premium upon their knowledge of Him. They are the people who are shut up to God. But this knowledge is firstly, constitutional: that is, it is to constitute a certain kind of person and character; and secondly it is vocational: it does not end with the person concerned, but is the essence of service, in time and eternity. God is very practical, and requires that things in His service are never merely theoretical but real and true to life." -T. A-S.

"Our path ought to be the mold, the opportunity, for the expression and virtue of Christ's life. Saints seek to use Him rather in order to get through their circumstances, instead of seeing in the circumstances the mold in which they are to be taught the strength and power of the Lord Jesus. May we grow in Him, knowing Him, not only as helping us through circumstances, but using the circumstances which He puts us through as opportunities for enlarging our souls in Himself."

"But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:13).
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6-7. PROFFERED PROVISION

"We have known and believed the love that God hath to us" (1 John 4:16).
The Spirit convicts us of sins that we may be convinced of God's cleansing. We do not deserve to be forgiven, but the Lord Jesus deserves to be trusted.

"We find the greatest difficulty often in bringing our sorrow to God. How can I do so, some may be saying, as my sorrow is the fruit of my sin? How can I take it to God? If it was suffering for righteousness' sake, then I would, but I am suffering for my sin; and can I, in the integrity of my heart towards God, take my sorrows to Him, knowing I deserve them?

"Yes: the Lord Jesus has been to God about them. This, then, is the ground on which I can go. There has been perfect atonement for all my sins; Christ has been judged for them. Will God judge us both? No; I go to Him on the ground of atonement, and God can justly meet me in all my sorrow, because Christ's work has been so perfectly done." -J.N.D.

"The guilt which the throne detects, the altar removes. If in the light of the throne one object is seen, namely, ruined, guilty, undone self; then, in the light of the altar, one object is seen, namely, a full, precious, all-sufficient Christ. The remedy reaches to the full extent of the ruin, and the same light that reveals the one reveals the other likewise. This gives settled repose to the conscience. God Himself has provided a remedy for all ruin which the light of His throne has revealed."

"If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).
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6-8. THE WORD'S WORD

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus" (Hebrews 10:19).

The written Word is meant to reveal the Living Word, not to hide Him. Many know prophecy better than the Prophet. Our Father gave us His written Word that we might know His Son, not only as Saviour but as our very Life. "Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy Word is truth" (John 17:17).

"The knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is the basis of the believer's life. That is, it underlies our very relationship with God; it underlies all our growth in grace; it underlies every fragment of our service. There is nothing which comes within the compass of the life of the Christian which does not depend upon the knowledge of the Lord Jesus." -T. A-S.

"Heart acquaintance with Christ is the secret of spiritual growth. One may know all the truths of the Bible, and yet be practically ignorant of the person of the Lord Jesus. It is possible to go back into the world with acquaintance with the scriptures, but it is virtually impossible to return thither with the scriptural acquaintance of Christ in the heart."

"The believer should have but one object: knowing Christ has laid hold of him for glory, his heart is running after Him. He is to have no other object, though he may have many things to do. The Lord Jesus is 'in all' believers as the power of life, and He is 'all' as the object of that life. He is 'all and in all' (Colossians 3:11). And, 'all to Him I owe.'"

"Having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (Hebrews 10:2l, 22).
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6-9. VICTORIOUS VINEDRESSER

"No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them who are exercised by it" (Hebrews 12:11).

Vision: The Word gives us the true picture of growth. Verification: The Spirit gives us a taste thereof. Vindication: The Lord Jesus, later, gives us maturity.

"A great mystery surrounds the spiritual growth of the hungry-hearted believer. The Spirit gives a foretaste of a deeper life before the believer is led into the fulness of it. Many believers mistake their foretaste for the fulness, not realizing that the Lord is just beginning to lead them

"The forwardness of nature is the failure of our youth--our spiritual youth, as well as our natural youth; eagerness to run in God's path, but not apprehending what the path is, or what it requires to walk in it. On the other hand, when the cost is counted, and our weakness known, the energy begotten of self-confidence being gone, we need a stimulating call on God's part, to get out of the persistent occupation with our weakness now, as with our strength before." -F.W.G.

"Suffering is not meant by God to be loss and deprivation. Satan says that it is. God means suffering to result in increased spiritual capacity, which is the basis of added responsibility, trust, and fruitful sharing. The branch of the vine may bleed from the drastic pruning and feel stripped of much glory; but more and better fruit is the vinedresser's vindication."

"As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Corinthians 15:49).
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6-10. DIVINE LAYAWAY

"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12).
In faith we apprehend the growth truths; in fact the Lord Jesus apprehends us for growth in those truths.

"I have been much struck by the thought of the hiddenness and slowness of God's workings. It must be a matter of distinct faith. If we do not understand this it will make us impatient. If we understand it will teach us to rest in God and to yield ourselves all the more joyfully to Him to work out His purpose. In all creation time is the great perfecter of growth. So with us, God will perfect that which concerns us."

"'Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness' (Romans 4:3), when his faith apprehended the promise of God; yet it was nearly 40 years after that this Scripture was fulfilled, when he offered his son. The faith had its apprehension and enjoyment for many a year before the work of faith.

"In proportion as the revelation is of God, in like measure must there be an answer to it sooner or later. Effect must follow cause. If the light has been received, the day will come that it must assert and obtain an expression of itself."

"Two glad services are ours,
Both the Master loves to bless.
First we serve with all our powers,
Then with all our helplessness."

"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14).

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6-11. TREASURE TROVE

"But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you" (Romans 8:9).

The Spirit's ministry is to make Christ all to each.

"We are the objects of the continual care and discipline of our heavenly Father. If we walk after the flesh, instead of after the Spirit, this may call for His loving rebuke and chastening (child training); but that in no way interferes with the precious truth of our continual acceptance and position in the risen Lord Jesus Christ, by whose one offering we have been perfected forever.

"Through grace, we are not in the flesh, but in Christ, yet the flesh is in us; but our part is to reckon it as having been, before God and to faith, judicially put to death in Christ crucified, thus setting us free to be so constantly occupied with the triumphant Son of God, as to find all our resources, all our strength, all our springs, in Him." -H.H.S.

"If we have the Lord Jesus, we have all--without Him, we have nothing. You can be happy without money, without liberty, without parents, and without friends, if He is yours. If you have not Christ, neither money, nor liberty, nor parents, nor friends can make you happy. Christ, with a chain, is liberty; liberty without Christ is a chain. Christ without anything is riches--all things, without Christ, is poverty indeed."

"If children, then heirs--heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ--if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together" (Romans 8:17).

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6-13. THREE-FOLD CORD

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).

The Word of life, the Lord of life, and the exigencies of life all must combine to give us a ministry of life.

"There is no personal knowledge of God but as we count on Him, as we are practically conscious of depending on Him and of His caring for us. One without straits, and victories, really has no growing acquaintance with God; and where there is not this, however great the intelligence or sincerity, there is little or no savor."

"It is the trials and difficulties of the way that are the opportunities for our hearts to grow in acquaintance with Him; and it will be found, while there may be a great enjoyment in ministry, and in the unfolding of truth, that really there is not strength but in proportion as one has learned how God has been for and with one in the trials and sorrows of the way; and as one has known Him in them, so is one able to speak of Him."

"The one purpose which our Father has in view, in all His ways, is to conform us to the image of His Son. This may explain our perplexities as to the past; it will govern our behavior in the present; it is to be our guidance in the future. The chief concern of our Lord is not to instruct us about a multitude of details, not to explain to us the reason for the trials which we are called to pass through. He is working out everything to serve His supreme purpose in displaying the character of His Son in His redeemed ones."

"For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 4:15).
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It is sometimes the trials of seemingly empty-meaninglessness that can be the most surprising because there’s nothing to see, only feel.  Unlike trials that involve visible elements whereby we can utilize our senses, trials involving invisible elements can be puzzling. This is when opportunity for faith can be most appropriated, because there’s less opportunity for your senses to be of use.
 
Therefore, the seemingly empty-meaninglessness trials can be the most fruit-bearing because faith is at its greatest substance (Heb 11:1) when visibility is at its least (Rom 8:24).  Since only in this life faith will be used, we would do well to maximize the “trying of your faith” by exercising, as much as is within us, that which it produces first—patience (Jam 1:3; Rom 5:3).  “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7); in eternity it will be inverted to walking by sight, not by faith.
 
Along with neighborly love, our patience is also the most usable gauge when evaluating the position of our conformity to Christ.  As we know, Scripture has much to say concerning patience and it was the Lord Himself who said, “By your patience possess your souls” (Luke 21:19 NKJ). -NC

   6-14. "THY WILL BE DONE"

"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into various trials" (James 1:2).

You can be sure that you are in the will of God when He keeps you dependent upon Himself, walking in the Holy Spirit, and abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ.

"Often all we think of is, having our need met; but how little a thing is that with God! It would cost Him nothing, we may say, to meet the need of a lifetime in a moment; and a lesser love than His would supply it at once, and get rid of the constant burden.

"But that is not His way. To supply the need is a small thing; but to supply it in such a way as to make us feel in each seasonable supply the Father's heart never withdrawn from us, the Father's heart ever employed about us--that is what He means. 'Give us our daily bread': is it not much more than to ask, 'Give us now, that we may not have to come again?'"

"The God-given experience of the Spirit's working many a time passes away, and leaves the soul apparently dull and dead. This is only until the double lesson has been fully learnt: (1) that a living faith can rejoice in the Living God, even when feeling and experience appear to contradict the promise (Romans 8:28, 29); and (2) that the divine life only predominates as the life of the flesh is held in the place of death, inoperative (Romans 6:11a). The life of the Lord Jesus is revealed as His death works in us (2 Corinthians 4:11, 12), and as in weakness and nothingness we look to him (2 Corinthians 3:18)." -A.M.

"Knowing this, that the testing of your faith worketh patience" (James 1:3).
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6-16. UNDIVIDED ATTENTION

"Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God" (Deuteronomy 8:11).

Our Father would be free to favor us with far more of His riches in Christ Jesus if we would keep more in mind that grace is unmerited favor--so that "He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy" (Romans 9:23).

"It seems so natural, when one is surrounded with blessings, and thus sensible of being an object of divine favor, that the eye is turned from God to oneself; for when God is before one, self gets no place, though there be the deepest awareness of His favor.

"Hence it is the saint who is the object of the greatest favor who needs to be on his guard, that he allow not his eye to rest on himself where the favors are sent, but on God from whom they come. If his eye turns to himself because of the favor, then the favor has been the means of turning his heart from God to a mere gift of His."

"If there be a growing up into the measure of the stature of Christ, there must be a conscious refusal of that which would tend to revive or invigorate the old nature. The saint is not only a new creature to grow into the likeness of the Lord Jesus, but he has to watch and beware lest the things he has to do with should in any way minister to another will in him, which would divert him from God to himself. Self is the circle and center of man's mind in his fallen state; but when Christ is formed in the soul, God is the center and source of everything." -J.B.S.

"For we . . . worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3).
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6-17. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED

"And you, that were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight" (Colossians 1:21, 22).

In order for our Father to be satisfied with us, He placed us in His Son. In order for us to be satisfied with our Father, we"rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3).

"On what ground is our faith tested? It is on the ground of our very relationship with God and God's attitude toward us. The concentration of the enemy is upon that point--to interfere with our link with God.

"What is our link with God? It is this--the Lord Jesus Christ, as the answer to God and to Satan for us. It will never be what we are in ourselves. If you are expecting a day to come when in virtue of what you are in yourself you can satisfy God, you are destined to an awful disillusionment. The day will never come when we can satisfy God in ourselves, not even more or less."

"How could there be any doubt about the believers perfect security if his position in the Lord Jesus were realized? It would be impossible. Can He change? Or will God say to Him, I cannot any longer accept You as standing for this people? Or, once again if standing for them, is He on probation? Is His work completely done, or still to do?" -F.W.G.

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses" (Colossians 2:13).

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The Christian life is that which is beyond human morality, which evaluates goodness by men “measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves” (2 Cor 10:12).  For the believer, it is that “which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Cor 2:13).
 
While we are aware that where “sin abounded”, we are also aware that ”grace abounded much more” (Rom 5:20).  This means that as the Spirit continues to take us into a deeper realization of the degradation and decadency of our Adamic nature, we can know that grace provides for us “a good conscience toward God” (1 Pet 3:21). 

“For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.   Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God” (1 John 3:20, 21).  -NC

 6-18. BELOVED OBJECT

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:10).

The Holy Spirit creates within us a hatred for the old nature, and a hunger for the new nature. Without a rejection of the old, there cannot be a projection of the new.

"I want a testimony that delivers me from the things I am occupied about in myself when I am suffering from them. I get it from God's gift that is perfect. I am 'accepted in the Beloved' (Ephesians 1:6). You say, There is something about myself I cannot get over. Remember, the testimony of the Spirit in us is the contrary of the testimony of the Spirit to us. In me, He takes notice of every fault that is not righteousness; but the testimony to us is, 'Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more' (Hebrews 8:12)."

"If we make morality our standard, we will be sure to fall below what we purpose. Whatever we put before us as our criterion, there will be always a falling short. If we have the Lord Jesus Christ risen and in heaven as our Object, we shall prove the power of His resurrection, not only in lifting us up when we are conscious of our exceeding short-comings, but in strengthening us to 'press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus' (Philippians 3:14)."

"The Word of God teaches me union, but the Person of Christ brings out all that I derive from union with Him. The Word is always my authority for my position, but acquaintance with the Person confirms and manifests my position."

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord" (Ephesians 6:10).

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With this message I leave on a ten-day vacation and will be doing my best to maintain the posts and replies.  I thank the Lord for all in “the Household of God” and may His Spirit’s instructions continue with us!
 
Blessed Be God


6-19. PROPER PRESENTATION

"The things that thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2).

Truth based upon law will be presented legally--it will be legislated. Truth based upon grace will be shared graciously, in love. "Adorn the doctrine of God" by "speaking the truth in love" (Titus 2:10; Ephesians 4:15).

"There are two things that have to be taken into account in communicating truth. Not merely should there be certainty that it is the truth from God, but it must also be suited truth to those whom you address. They might need it all, but they may not be in condition to receive it; and the more precious the truth, the greater the injury, in a certain sense, if it is presented to those who are not in a state to profit by it."

"We are to serve under His direction, and according to His pleasure; not just because opportunity or need offers. We require His direction, and the knowledge of His pleasure, however favorable the opportunity or the occasion. We see a servant in Acts 8 taken away from an interesting field of service, to meet one man in the desert. "It is not a question of how we succeed; but have we the assurance that we are doing the Lord's pleasure? Happy is the servant who is so led by Him that he always presents the measure of truth suited to the state of souls, and refuses to supply the knowledge that puffeth up."

"Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (1 Corinthians 2:13).

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6-21. PERSONIFICATION

"God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction" (Genesis 41:52).

To share what we have may minister temporarily to the physical; but to minister to the spiritual in an eternal way we must share what we are, and that calls for growth in the Lord Jesus Christ.

"We can only comfort others with the comfort wherewith we ourselves have been comforted of God. Others can only really be helped by what has been the power of life in the would-be helper.

"Information, by itself, however correct and orthodox, however strongly held in conviction and passed on in passion, will lack an essential and indispensable quality or value for spiritual constitution.

"Hence it has ever been God's way to raise up a vessel, personal or corporate, in which His message has been wrought by fiery ordeal. The messenger must not only have the message in him, but he must be in the message: not only in mind and feeling, but in experience and being." -T. A-S.

"We really can only come into the reality of things by being 'pressed out of measure' (2 Corinthians 1:. So the Lord has to take much time to make our spiritual history. When at length our eyes are open, we cry, 'O, why did I not see it before!' But everything else had to prove insufficient before we could really be shown, and that takes time."

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time" (1 Peter 5:6).

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As  believers, we could not be in better hands.  Regardless of what occurs or what our old minds may think up, our Father never turns us over to anything but His own training of love-chastening.  Nothing ever negative comes from God’s care for us, even when there may be times when something may start as a negative, God works it out as a positive for our good and not a moment of time is wasted.
 
When we become too self-centered, any negativity from self can be enhanced, even beyond necessity and the carnal imagination can take flight, attempting to discourage but even this, along with whatever transpires is the believer’s life, will be used as an advantage.   
 
For the “household of God”, all is blood-covered, so “casting all your care on Him” (1 Pet 5:7) is the instruction of the day and there is no greater exercise of faith than to realize He already knows everything we will think and do and yet, He wants us to understand and believe “He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph 1:6). -NC

6-23. LOVE'S LEGACY

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God" (Philippians 4:6).

Ignorance insures insecurity; scriptural knowledge secures strength. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7).

"In mechanics, wobbling is weakness. Power issues from God's restfulness. Are we resting in the Lord? Can we wait patiently for Him to act? Anxiety reduces spiritual energy. Lack of rest of heart is one of the most serious hindrances to Christians.

"Fret of soul when wronged, or fuss over financial or other concerns, is a depletion of power, a dissipation of energy. From the rock basis of rest in Him we can put forth the whole of our energies. Perfect peace is our promised portion."

"Martha gets instruction; we all get that, for our Lord neglects none of us; but she did not get His company; company is what gives rest to the heart."

"Nothing can separate the believer from the love of God, and under no circumstances whatever can he come under the infliction of wrath from God. He may have to correct His saints for their sins, and where there has been no failure He may chasten (child train) them for their profit, that they may become partakers of His holiness; but all this is in love, not in wrath. Every action of God toward His saints is in grace and blessing; it is ever the outcome of His love."

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7).

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